What Went Wrong at SUNY? Departed Chancellor Speaks

By KAREN W. ARENSON

Published: July 29, 1996

It was late 1994 when Thomas A. Bartlett came out of a brief retirement. He sold off his cattle, leased his Oregon farm and set out for the East Coast to take the reins of the State University of New York. Eighteen months later, some would say a bit sore from the bumpy ride, he abruptly handed the reins back.

But in walking away from the leadership of the 64-campus system, Mr. Bartlett said recently, in his first interview since resigning as Chancellor last month, that he was taking with him more than a few impressions about what had gone wrong.

It was not a personal issue," Mr. Bartlett said of his decision to leave. "Behind my departure were differences in perception about where the system is and where it ought to go, and about the role of the board."

He criticized Gov. George E. Pataki's appointees to the board of the State University of New York for not understanding the role of public higher education and their responsibility for sheltering it from politics.

He said SUNY, which takes more than 40 percent of New York's high school graduates who go to college, is an important asset, but one that is too often taken for granted.

"I compare it to a water system," he said. "Who cares about it when you turn it on and the water comes out? It is only when you turn on the faucet and the water doesn't come out that you get concerned."

Mr. Bartlett was named Chancellor by a board of mostly Gov. Mario M. Cuomo's appointees just before the 1994 election. But even when he learned that much of the board might be replaced when Mr. Pataki took office, he did not anticipate problems. As university chancellor in Oregon and Alabama, he said, he had worked with both Democrats and Republicans.

But in New York, he ran into problems almost immediately, even though he agreed with the new board on matters like the need to differentiate SUNY's campuses more and to create greater visibility for the university centers. Recalling the nearly constant budget battles last year and this, Mr. Bartlett said he had had little opportunity to deal with other matters. "We never got out of crisis mode," he said.

In early 1995, he spoke out against Governor Pataki's proposal to slice SUNY's budget. While Mr. Bartlett acknowledged New York State's need to pare its $5.5 billion budget, he said SUNY had already been hit hard by 12 cuts since 1988 that had reduced state tax money to less than half of SUNY's core operating budget, from 85 percent.

Mr. Pataki's appointees chided Mr. Bartlett for trying to protect the university. He said he felt they were siding with the Governor rather than being independent and representing society's interests.

"The board has a responsibility to face the university and insist that it fulfill its obligations to the public," he said. "But it must also face the other direction and buffer the university from politics. The board is the point at which these two spheres intersect. That is a very subtle but vital function."

Mr. Bartlett said the Governor himself had never tried to interfere.

"I think his position was that there is a board and a chancellor's office and college presidents, and they need to do the work," Mr. Bartlett said.

Although the trustees ultimately agreed to allow Mr. Bartlett to express his views, they never saw him as being on their side, and curtailed his freedom to choose a provost and other officials, among other things.

In Mr. Bartlett's view, understanding SUNY, with 64 campuses and 60,000 employees, and knowing what to do with it, takes time. He expresses optimism, however, that because the trustees have had time to learn about SUNY and because they have elected his successor, John Ryan, themselves, Mr. Ryan will have a better chance of success. Mr. Bartlett called Mr. Ryan, 66, another retired university chief, a "first-class appointment."

Mr. Bartlett said he and his wife, Molly, are now trying to reshape their lives. For the next 12 months, he is on leave as a tenured faculty member of SUNY's Empire State College. He expects to split his time between the East and West Coasts.

Among his goals is to become involved with international activities again. Early in his career, Mr. Bartlett served on the American mission to the United Nations and as president of the American University in Cairo.

Despite the unhappy ending to the SUNY experience, he exudes more equanimity than bitterness.

"I am very calm," he said. "I am a great believer in the principal enunciated by Maverick that you play the hand you are dealt, or else you kick over the table. There is no use trying to rewrite history."